Telephone number-based advertising

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a first telephone number is associated with a second telephone number, and a web-based advertisement is served for an advertiser that includes the first telephone number. A call placed to the first telephone number is received, and the call is routed to the second telephone number based on the association of the second telephone number with the first telephone number. A determination as to whether a call-through event in response to receiving the call placed to the first telephone number has occurred, and an advertiser associated with the second telephone number is charged a cost-per-call amount if the call-through event is determined to have occurred.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of, and claims priorityto, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/948,171, titled “TELEPHONENUMBER-BASED ADVERTISING,” which was filed on Nov. 30, 2007, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 60/990,256, titled“TELEPHONE NUMBER-BASED ADVERTISING,” filed Nov. 26, 2007. Thedisclosure of each of the foregoing applications is incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

This document relates to information management.

As the Internet has grown, online advertising has become a popularmethod by which advertisers can reach consumers. Online advertisingprovides opportunities for advertisers to target their advertisements toa receptive audience. Advertisements can be identified by one or morecontent servers in response to queries and listed on a content pageprovided by a publisher.

A publisher that lists the advertisement on the publisher's content pagecan charge the advertiser each time a user interacts with (e.g., clickson) the advertisement on the content page (e.g., and is directed to awebsite associated with the advertiser). If, however, the user contactsthe advertiser by calling a telephone number specific to the advertiserlisted on the content page with the advertisement instead of clicking onthe advertisement, the publisher may not have a readily verifiable wayof charging the advertiser because the publisher may have no knowledgeof the telephone call to the advertiser by the user.

Additionally, an advertiser may not have a website but neverthelessdesires to advertise on the Internet. Such an advertiser can haveadvertisements that include the advertisers' telephone numbers served bya publisher. However, the publisher again may not be able to easilydetermine when a viewer calls the advertiser, and thus a less thousandimpressions that is fixed regardless of the number of phone calls theadvertiser actually receives in response to the advertisement.

SUMMARY

In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be embodied in methods that include the actions ofassociating a first telephone number with a second telephone number;serving a web-based advertisement for an advertiser that includes thefirst telephone number; receiving a call placed to the first telephonenumber; routing the call to the second telephone number based on theassociation of the second telephone number with the first telephonenumber; determining whether a call-through event in response toreceiving the call placed to the first telephone number has occurred;and charging an advertiser associated with the second telephone number acost-per-call amount if the call-through event is determined to haveoccurred. Other embodiments of this aspect include correspondingsystems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification canbe embodied in methods that include the actions of associating a firsttelephone number with a second telephone number; serving a web-basedadvertisement for an advertiser that includes the first telephonenumber; receiving a call placed to the first telephone number;identifying a calling number associated with an origination of the call;determining whether the calling number has originated calls to the firsttelephone number in excess of a threshold number of originations; androuting the call to the second telephone number if the calling numberhas not originated calls to the first telephone number in excess of thethreshold number of originations. Other embodiments of this aspectinclude corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Another aspect of the subject matter described in this specification canbe embodied in methods that include the actions of associating a firsttelephone number with a second telephone number until an occurrence ofan expiration event; determining whether the expiration event hasoccurred; disassociating the first telephone number from the secondtelephone number if the expiration event has occurred; and precludingassociation of the first telephone number with another second number forat least a minimum time period if the expiration event has occurred.Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems,apparatus, and computer program products.

Optional advantages and features that can be realized by the subjectmatter described in this specification can include a more optimumbilling for advertisements based on audience response to theadvertisement. For example, advertisers with websites can be billed foradvertisements that are either interacted with (e.g., clicked on) or forwhich a telephone call is placed to a number included in theadvertisement. Likewise, and advertiser without a website can be billedfor advertisements based on the number of telephone calls that areplaced to a telephone number included in the advertisement.Additionally, usage information that includes a call-through rate can beprovided to the advertiser, thus allowing the advertiser to evaluate theperformance of the advertisement and facilitate advertising cost-benefitanalyses.

These various optional advantages and features can be separatelyrealized and need not be present in any particular embodiment. Thedetails of one or more embodiments of the subject matter described inthis specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example online environment.

FIG. 2 is a screen shot of an example content page and advertisementsassociated with telephone numbers.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example process for trackingadvertisements using telephone numbers.

FIG. 4 is another flow diagram of an example process for trackingadvertisements using telephone numbers.

FIG. 5 is another flow diagram of an example process for trackingadvertisements using telephone numbers.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example process for processing anexpiration event based on originations.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an example process for conditionally routingcalls based on an account balance

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example online environment 100. Theonline environment 100 can facilitate the identification and serving ofcontent items, e.g., web pages, advertisements, etc., to users. Acomputer network 110, such as a local area network (LAN), wide areanetwork (WAN), the Internet, or a combination thereof, connectsadvertisers 102 a and 102 b, an advertisement management system 104,publishers 106 a and 106 b, user devices 108 a and 108 b, and a searchengine 112. Although only two advertisers (102 a and 102 b), twopublishers (106 a and 106 b) and two user devices (108 a and 108 b) areshown, the online environment 100 may include many (e.g., thousands)advertisers, publishers and user devices. The network 110 cancommunicate with other networks, both public and private, such as apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) 120 and/or a cellular network126. As will be described in detail below, the advertisement managementsystem 104 can associate a first telephone number that is displayed onan web-based advertisement with a second telephone number of anadvertiser. When the first telephone number is called by a user thatviewed the advertisement, the call is routed the second telephone numberthat is associated with the advertiser. Accordingly, contacts that aremade over a telephone network and that are attributed to the web-basedadvertisement can be accounted for. While reference is made todelivering advertisements, other forms of content including other formsof sponsored content can be delivered. Further, while reference is madeto an example system that delivers content over the web, other mediadelivery systems including audio, video, broadcast, satellite, cable,print, etc., and other forms of media may be used.

In some implementations, one or more advertisers 102 a and/or 102 b candirectly, or indirectly, enter, maintain, and track advertisementinformation in the advertising management system 104. The advertisementscan be in the form of graphical advertisements, such as banneradvertisements, text only advertisements, image advertisements, audioadvertisements, video advertisements, advertisements combining one ofmore of any of such components, etc., or any other type of electronicadvertisement document 120. The advertisements may also include embeddedinformation, such as a links, meta-information, and/or machineexecutable instructions, such as HTML or JavaScript™.

A user device, such as user device 108 a, can submit a page contentrequest 109 to a publisher or the search engine 112. In someimplementations, the page content 111 can be provided to the user device108 a in response to the page content request 109. The page content caninclude advertisements provided by the advertisement management system104, or can include executable instructions, e.g., JavaScript™instructions, that can be executed at the user device 108 a to requestadvertisements from the advertisement management system 104. Exampleuser devices 108 include personal computers, mobile communicationdevices, television set-top boxes, etc.

Advertisements can also be provided from the publishers 106. Forexample, one or more publishers 106 a and/or 106 b can submitadvertisement requests for one or more advertisements to the system 104.The system 104 responds by sending the advertisements to the requestingpublisher 106 a or 106 b for placement on one or more of the publisher'sweb properties (e.g., websites and other network-distributed content).The advertisements can include embedded links to landing pages, e.g.,pages on the advertisers' 102 websites that a user is directed to whenthe user clicks an ad presented on a publisher website. Theadvertisement requests can also include content request information.This information can include the content itself (e.g., page or othercontent document), a category corresponding to the content or thecontent request (e.g., arts, business, computers, arts-movies,arts-music, etc.), part or all of the content request, content age,content type (e.g., text, graphics, video, audio, mixed media, etc.),geo-location information, etc.

In some implementations, a publisher 106 can combine the requestedcontent with one or more of the advertisements provided by the system104. This combined page content 111 and advertisements can be sent tothe user device 108 that requested the content (e.g., user device 108 a)as page content 111 for presentation in a viewer (e.g., a web browser orother content display system). The publisher 106 can transmitinformation about the advertisements back to the advertisementmanagement system 104, including information describing how, when,and/or where the advertisements are to be rendered (e.g., in HTML orJavaScript™).

Publishers 106 a and 106 b can include general content servers thatreceive requests for content (e.g., articles, discussion threads, music,video, graphics, search results, web page listings, information feeds,etc.), and retrieve the requested content in response to the request.For example, content servers related to news content providers,retailers, independent blogs, social network sites, or any other entitythat provides content over the network 110 can be a publisher.

Advertisements can also be provided through the use of the search engine112. The search engine 112 can receive queries for search results. Inresponse, the search engine 112 can retrieve relevant search resultsfrom an index of documents (e.g., from an index of web pages). Anexemplary search engine 112 is described in S. Brin and L. Page, “TheAnatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Search Engine,” SeventhInternational World Wide Web Conference, Brisbane, Australia (1998) andin U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,999. Search results can include, for example,lists of web page titles, snippets of text extracted from those webpages, and hypertext links to those web pages, and may be grouped into apredetermined number of (e.g., ten) search results.

The search engine 112 can also submit a request for advertisements tothe system 104. The request may include a number of advertisementsdesired. This number may depend on the search results, the amount ofscreen or page space occupied by the search results, the size and shapeof the advertisements, etc. The request for advertisements may alsoinclude the query (as entered, parsed, or expanded), information basedon the query (such as geo-location information, whether the query camefrom an affiliate and an identifier of such an affiliate), and/orinformation associated with, or based on, the search results. Suchinformation may include, for example, identifiers related to the searchresults (e.g., document identifiers), scores related to the searchresults (e.g., information retrieval (“IR”) scores), snippets of textextracted from identified documents (e.g., web pages), full text ofidentified documents, feature vectors of identified documents, etc. Insome implementations, IR scores can be computed from, for example, dotproducts of feature vectors corresponding to a query and a document,page rank scores, and/or combinations of IR scores and page rank scores,etc.

The search engine 112 can combine the search results with one or more ofthe advertisements provided by the system 104. This combined informationcan then be forwarded to the user device 108 that requested the contentas the page content 111. The search results can be maintained asdistinct from the advertisements, so as not to confuse the user betweenpaid advertisements and search results.

The advertisers 102, user devices 108, and/or the search engine 112 canalso provide usage information to the advertisement management system104. This usage information can include measured or observed userbehavior related to advertisements that have been served, such as, forexample, whether or not a conversion or a selection related to anadvertisement has occurred. The system 104 performs financialtransactions, such as crediting the publishers 106 and charging theadvertisers 102 based on the usage information. Such usage informationcan also be processed to measure performance metrics, such as aclick-through rate (“CTR”), conversion rate, call-through rate (“KTR”)etc.

A click-through can occur, for example, when a user of a user device,selects or “clicks” on a link to a content item returned by thepublisher or the advertising management system. The CTR is a performancemetric that is obtained by dividing the number of users that clicked onthe content item, e.g., a link to a landing page, an advertisement, or asearch result, by the number of times the content item was delivered.For example, if a link to a content item is delivered 100 times, andthree persons click on the content item, then the CTR for that contentitem is 3%. Other usage information and/or performance metrics can alsobe used.

A “conversion” occurs, for example, when a user consummates atransaction related to a previously served advertisement. Whatconstitutes a conversion may vary from case to case and can bedetermined in a variety of ways. For example, a conversion may occurwhen a user clicks on an advertisement, is referred to the advertiser'sweb page, and consummates a purchase there before leaving that web page.A conversion can also be defined by an advertiser to be anymeasurable/observable user action such as, for example, downloading awhite paper, navigating to at least a given depth of a Website, viewingat least a certain number of Web pages, spending at least apredetermined amount of time on a Website or Web page, registering on aWebsite, etc. Other actions that constitute a conversion can also beused.

A call-through can occur, for example, when a user calls a telephonenumber associated with an advertisement returned by the publisher or theadvertising management system.

In addition to the advertisements being selected based on content suchas a search query or web page content of a publisher, the advertisementscan also be selected from an auction. In some implementations, theadvertisement management system 104 includes an auction process.Advertisers 102 may be permitted to select, or bid, an amount theadvertisers are willing to pay for each telephone call to theadvertisers as a result of a user viewing the advertisement and callingthe telephone number associated with the advertiser listed in theadvertisement. For example, advertisers A, B, and C all select, or bid,a cost-per-call of $0.05, $0.07, and $-0.10, respectively. The amountadvertiser A will pay for a call placed to the advertiser A is $0.05,the amount advertiser B will pay is $0.10, and the amount advertiser Cwill pay is $0.07. The advertisements, associated usage data, andbidding parameters described above can be stored as advertisement datain an advertisement data store 114.

As can be appreciated from the foregoing, the advertising managementsystem 104 permits the serving of advertisements targeted to documentsserved by the publishers 106 and the search engine 112. Additionally,the usage information described above can be used by the advertisementmanagement system 104 to serve higher performing advertisements that aremore likely to elicit a response from users of the user devices 108 aand 108 b.

In some implementations, the serving of the advertisements, such as theadvertisement 120, can be further optimized by tracking whether theadvertisers associated with the advertisements are contacted by userscalling the advertiser.

The environment 100 can include a public switched telephone network(PSTN) 120 coupled to the network 110 by a gateway 125. Telephonedevices 122 a-f can communicate over the PSTN 120. The PSTN 120 includesswitching elements 124 a-b for identifying information from callsreceived from telephone devices 122 a-f and directing these calls to thecalled party. The PSTN 120 can be circuit-switched telephone network,which may be used for analog and/or digital communication links, e.g.,time-division multiplexed (TDM) signaling, Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN) signaling, internet access, dial-up modems to theInternet, etc.

Telephone devices 122 a-f comprise any telecommunication device operableto electronically receive and transmit audio, including voice anddual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) data. Generally, a telephone deviceoperates through transmission of electric signals over the PSTN 120 toallow users to communicate. The environment 100 may include othercommunication devices such as cellular phones, IP phones, soft phones,and/or others communication devices that may communicate over thenetwork 110 either alone or in conjunction with the PSTN 120 and/orother networks. In some implementation, telephone numbers provided byInternet advertisements direct call initiation requests from thetelephone device 122 to the switching element 124 and from the switchingelement to the calling party.

The switching element 124 comprises any hardware, software, and/orfirmware operable to route calls between devices in the PSTN 120 and theentity associated with the telephone number dialed. For example, theswitching element 124 may receive a request to initiate a call from thetelephone device 122 and based, at least in part, on the request, routethe call to another element in communication with the PSTN 120, such asthe advertisement management system 104.

In addition to the PSTN network 120, other telephone networks and/orprotocols can also be used. For example, a cellular telephone 122 g cancommunicate with the network 110 over a cellular network 126 and agateway 127. Likewise, a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone122 h can communicate over the network 110.

In some implementations, the advertisement management system 104 canassociate a first telephone number that is displayed on an web-basedadvertisement with a second telephone number associated with anadvertiser. The advertisement management system 104 can include acall-through engine 130 that may include instructions, algorithms, orother directives for mapping a telephone number displayed in an Internetadvertisement to an associated advertiser 102. For example, a user ofthe user device 108 a may call the first number displayed on an Internetadvertisement by using the telephone 122 a. The switching element 124may receive a request to initiate a call that identifies a telephonenumber presented in an Internet advertisement, where the identifiedtelephone number is associated with the advertisement management system104 and, in response to the request, forward the call to theadvertisement management system 104. The call-through engine 130 can mapthe dialed number to the second number associated with an advertiser102. In connection with identifying the advertiser 102, the call-throughengine 130 may route, switch or otherwise transmit the call in responseto the request to the advertiser 102. Usage and billing data for thetelephone call can also be collected and updated by the advertisementmanagement system 104 in response to the telephone call. A similar callplacement and routing process can also be used if the user of the userdevice 108 placed the call using the cellular telephone 122 g or theVoIP phone 122 h.

In some implementations, the advertisement management system 104 canpurchase the use of many unique first telephone numbers 132. Theadvertisement management system 104 can uniquely associate these firsttelephone numbers with the second telephone numbers 134 of theadvertisers 102 and display these first telephone numbers in web-basedadvertisements for the advertisers 102. Accordingly, when the firsttelephone numbers 132 are called, the calls are routed to theadvertisement management system 104 and then routed to the advertiser'sactual telephone numbers (second telephone numbers 134).

In some implementations, a first telephone number 132 can include acommon telephone number with many extensions. Therefore, more than oneadvertiser 102 or other entity can be associated with the same commontelephone number. However, each extension is only assigned to oneentity. Therefore, a first telephone number 132 that is a commontelephone number with an extension is unique to the advertiser 102associated with that telephone number and extension. For example, thetelephone number “888-888-8888” can be associated with more than oneadvertiser 102; but the telephone number “888-888-8888, ext. 123” isonly associated with one advertiser 102. In some implementations, thefirst telephone number 132 can be used to track whether a user contactsthe advertiser 102 as a result of viewing the advertisement provided bythe call-through engine 130. If, for example, a user contacts theadvertiser 102 by dialing the first telephone number, the call-throughengine 130 can determine that the user viewed the first telephone number132 on the web-based advertisement. If, however, a user contacts theadvertiser by dialing the second telephone number 134, it may beconcluded that the user most likely did not see the web-basedadvertisement that displayed the first telephone number 132, since thesecond telephone number is not listed in the advertisement.

For example, suppose an advertiser A has an associated telephone number(i.e., the second telephone number) “222-222-2222.” The call-throughengine 130 can associate a first telephone number “111-111-1111” withthe advertiser A. No other entity will be associated with the firsttelephone number “111-111-1111.” The first telephone number“111-111-1111” can be listed in the advertisement associated withadvertiser A. When a user calls the advertiser A using the firsttelephone number “111-111-1111,” the call can be routed to theadvertisement management system 104. The call-through engine 130 candetermine the advertiser associated with the first telephone number,e.g., advertiser A. The call-through engine 130 can determine the secondtelephone number associated with the advertiser, e.g., “222-222-2222,”and can route the call to the second telephone number “222-222-2222”associated with the advertiser of the advertisement.

In some implementations, the route-engine 130 can determine whether acall-through event occurred in response to when the call placed to thefirst telephone number 132 was received. The call-through event can be,for example, an event that is based on a calling number placing a callto the first number 132 more than a predetermined number of times. Thecall-through engine 130 can, for example, determine if the call-throughevent occurred by first identifying a calling number associated with theorigination of the call. If the calling number has originated calls tothe first telephone 132 in excess of a predetermined threshold number oforiginations, the call-through engine 130 can preclude theidentification of the occurrence of a call-through event for the secondtelephone number 134. If the calling number has not originated calls tothe first telephone 132 in excess of the predetermined threshold numberof originations, the call-through engine 130 can identify the occurrenceof a call-through event for the second telephone number 134.

For example, suppose also that in the example above, the call-throughengine 130 has determined the threshold number of originations is five.Therefore, a calling number can originate a call to the first telephonenumber “111-111-1111” five or less times in order to identify each callas a call-through event for the second telephone number “222-222-2222.”If, for example, the calling number “888-888-8888” has originated callsto the first telephone number “111-111-1111” more than five times, thenthe call-through engine 130 can preclude the identification of theoccurrence of a call-through event for the second telephone number“222-222-2222” after the fifth call. In some implementations, if thecall-through event does not occur, then the call is not routed to thesecond telephone number 134.

The threshold limitation can be used to preclude unwarranted charges tothe advertiser 102. Typically the advertiser 102 will provide theadvertiser's actual number to the caller for future calls. However, notall callers may call the actual number of the advertiser, e.g., a callermay have printed the advertisement displayed on the computer.Accordingly, the advertisement management system 104 can utilize thethreshold determination to avoid unwarranted charges to the advertiser102.

In some implementations, the call is routed to the second telephonenumber 134 if the threshold number of originations has not yet been met.For example, a threshold number of originations can be set to ten.Therefore, a calling number can originate a call to a first telephonenumber 132 ten times, and the call-through engine 130 can route the callto the second telephone number 134 ten times. On the eleventh call, thecall-through engine 130 does not route the call to the second telephonenumber 134 because the number of originations, e.g., ten, has beenexceeded. In variations of these implementations, the call-throughengine 130 can announce the actual number 134 of the advertiser 102 tothe caller for calls in excess of the threshold number of originations.For example, suppose the calling number “888-888-8888” has originatedcalls to the first telephone number “111-111-1111” five times and themaximum number of originations is five. On the sixth call, instead ofrouting the call to the second telephone number “222-222-2222,” thecall-through engine 130 can provide the second telephone number to thecalling party by announcing the second telephone number “222-222-2222”during the call. The call is therefore never routed to the secondtelephone number 134.

In some implementations, if the call is routed to the second telephonenumber 134 and a busy signal is reached, an origination does not result,and thus a call-through is not attributed to the attempted telephonecall. In this implementation, the calling party has to answer, either bya person or by an answering machine or service, in order for the call tocount as an origination.

In some implementations, if the first telephone number 132 has notoriginated calls to the second telephone number 132 in excess of thethreshold number of originations, the call-through engine 130 can routethe call to the second telephone number 134. Each time the call isrouted from the first telephone number 132 to the second telephonenumber 134, the number of originations can increase by one origination.In some implementations, even if a busy signal is reached, anorigination can result because the call was routed to the secondtelephone number 134.

In some implementations, the call-through engine 130 can associate thefirst telephone number 132 and second telephone number 134 for only apredetermined period of time. For example, an advertiser's actualtelephone number can be associated with a unique telephone number for aweek or a month. After the predetermined period of time ends, thecall-through engine 130 can disassociate the first telephone number 132with the second telephone 134. Therefore, a user cannot call the firsttelephone number to reach the advertiser. The first telephone number canthen be associated with a third telephone 136 number after thepredetermined period of time ends. The third telephone number 136 can,for example, be associated with a different advertiser 102 after a“hibernation period,” e.g., two months after being disassociated with afirst telephone number 132 of a previous advertiser 102. Hibernating atelephone number includes precluding association of the telephone numberwith another second telephone number 134 for a predetermined period oftime. For example, once a first telephone number 132 has beendisassociated from a second telephone number 134, the first telephonenumber 132 can be hibernated, and not used for a period of time.Therefore, the first telephone number 132 will not be associated withany advertisers 102 during this time.

For example, suppose the first telephone number 132 is associated withthe second telephone number 134 of advertiser B, and the association isonly for a month. After the month ends, the first and second telephonenumbers are disassociated from each other. Therefore, the firsttelephone number 132 is no longer associated with advertiser B. At thispoint, the first telephone number 132 is free to be associated with adifferent advertiser 102, or, alternatively, may be placed inhibernation for a time period of several months. The first telephonenumber can immediately, or after the hibernation period, be associatedwith a third telephone number 136 that, for example, belongs toadvertiser C.

In some implementations, an advertiser 102 associated with the secondtelephone number 134 can be charged a cost-per-call amount in responseto routing the call to the second telephone number 134. For example,each time the call is routed to the second telephone number 134, theadvertiser can be charged the cost-per-call amount. The cost-per-callamount can, for example, include the amount an advertiser 102 pays whena call is routed to the advertiser's associated, or actual, telephonenumber, or second telephone number 132, as a result of a user callingthe first telephone number 132 and having the call routed to the secondtelephone number 134. In some implementations, the advertiser 102 can becharged the cost-per-call amount even if the call is routed to thesecond telephone number 134 and a busy signal is reached.

In some implementations, if a busy signal is reached even though thecall is routed, the advertiser 102 associated with the second telephonenumber 134 is not charged the cost-per-call amount. In someimplementations, if an answering service or machine picks up the call,the advertiser is charged a reduced portion of the cost-per-call amount.

In another implementation, the advertiser 102 can also be charged thecost-per-call amount when a call event is identified by the call-throughengine 130. For example, as long as a predetermined threshold oforiginations has not been met, each time a calling number calls a firsttelephone number 132 and the call is routed to the second telephonenumber 134, the advertiser associated with the second telephone number134 is charged the cost-per-call amount.

In some implementations, the advertiser 102 associated with the secondtelephone number 134 can be associated with an account balance.Therefore, each time the advertiser 102 is charged a cost-per-callamount, the cost-per-call amount is deducted from the account balance.In some implementations, the account balance can be checked to make sureappropriate funds exist in the account before the call is routed to thesecond telephone number. If the account balance is lower than thecost-per-call amount associated with the advertiser 102, thecall-through engine 130 can preclude routing the call from the firsttelephone number 132 to the second telephone number 134.

In some implementations, if the call is routed to the second telephonenumber 134 and a busy signal is reached, the advertiser 102 associatedwith the second telephone number is not charged the cost-per-callamount. In another implementation, if an answering machine or serviceanswers the call that is routed to the second telephone number 134, theadvertiser 102 is charged the cost-per-call amount.

FIG. 2 is a screen shot depicting a content page 200 containing one ormore advertisements 202, 204, 206. While some of the advertisements,e.g., 202, are not associated with a first telephone number, otheradvertisements 204, 206 can be associated with a first telephone number.For example, advertisement 204 is associated with a first telephonenumber “432-432-4324” which is a unique telephone number. Therefore,only the advertiser associated with the advertisement 204 is associatedwith the telephone number “432-432-4324.” Advertisement 206 isassociated with the first telephone number “555-555-5555 ext. 122” whichis a common telephone number with an extension.

The advertisers 102 associated with advertisement 204 and 206 are eachassociated with a second telephone number, or the advertiser's actualtelephone number. The actual telephone number is not listed in theadvertisements 204 and 206. Therefore, anyone that wishes to contact theadvertiser for advertiser 204 can dial the unique telephone number“432-432-4324” and the call is then routed to the advertisementmanagement system 104. Depending on a variety of factors, such as forexample, whether the calling party has originated calls to the telephonenumber “432-432-4324” more than a predetermined number of times, thecall can be routed to the actual telephone number, or second telephonenumber, associated with the advertiser of advertisement 204. When thecall is routed, the advertiser can be charged a cost-per-call amount. Asimilar call process can be used for calls placed to the telephonenumber “555-555-5555 ext. 122” for the advertiser associated with theadvertisement 206.

Although only three advertisements, 202, 204, 206 are shown in FIG. 2,additional advertisements could also be presented on the content page.Additionally, while the advertisements shown in FIG. 2 are in textadvertisements, other advertisement types could also be used, e.g., anadvertisement with graphics.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example process 300 for routing calls.The process 300 can, for example, be implemented in the advertisementmanagement system 104 of FIG. 1, or in some other hardware and softwarecomputing device. Stage 302 associates a first telephone number with asecond telephone number.

For example, the call-through engine 130 can associate a first telephonenumber with a second telephone number.

Stage 304 serves a web-based advertisement for an advertiser thatincludes the first telephone number. For example, the call-throughengine 130 can serve a web-based advertisement for an advertiser thatincludes the first telephone number.

Stage 306 receives a call placed to the first telephone number. Forexample, the call-through engine 130 can receive a call placed to thefirst telephone number.

Stage 308 routes the call to the second telephone number based on theassociation of the second telephone number with the first telephonenumber. For example, the call-through engine 130 can route the call tothe second telephone number based on the association of the secondtelephone number with the first telephone number.

Stage 310 determines whether a call-through event in response toreceiving the call placed to the first telephone number has occurred.For example, the call-through engine 130 can determine whether acall-through event in response to receiving the call placed to the firsttelephone number has occurred.

Stage 312 charges an advertiser associated with the second telephonenumber a cost-per-call amount if the call-through event is determined tohave occurred. For example, the call-through engine 130 can charge anadvertiser associated with the second telephone number a cost-per-callamount if the call-through event is determined to have occurred.

FIG. 4 is another flow diagram of an example process 400 for routingcalls. The process 400 can, for example, be implemented in theadvertisement management system 104 of FIG. 1, or in some other hardwareand software computing device.

Stage 402 associates a first telephone number with a second telephonenumber. For example, the call-through engine 130 can associate a firsttelephone number with a second telephone number.

Stage 404 serves a web-based advertisement for an advertiser thatincludes the first telephone number. For example, the call-throughengine 130 can serve a web-based advertisement for an advertiser thatincludes the first telephone number.

Stage 406 receives a call placed to the first telephone number. Forexample, the call-through engine 130 can receive a call placed to thefirst telephone number.

Stage 408 identifies a calling number associated with an origination ofthe call. For example, the call-through engine 130 can identify acalling number associated with an origination of the call.

Stage 410 determines whether the calling number has originated calls tothe first telephone number in excess of a threshold number oforiginations. For example, the call-through engine 130 can determinewhether the calling number has originated calls to the first telephonenumber in excess of a threshold number of originations.

Stage 412 routes the call to the second telephone number if the callingnumber has not originated calls to the first telephone number in excessof the threshold number of originations. For example, the call-throughengine 130 can route the call to the second telephone number if thecalling number has not originated calls to the first telephone number inexcess of the threshold number of originations.

FIG. 5 is another flow diagram of another example process 500 forrouting calls. The process 500 can, for example, be implemented in theadvertisement management system 104 of FIG. 1, or in some other hardwareand software computing device.

Stage 502 associates a first telephone number with a second telephonenumber until an occurrence of an expiration event. For example, thecall-through engine 130 can associate a first telephone number with asecond telephone number until an occurrence of an expiration event.

Stage 504 determines whether the expiration event has occurred. Forexample, the call-through engine can determine whether the expirationevent has occurred.

Stage 506 disassociates the first telephone number from the secondtelephone number if the expiration event has occurred. For example, thecall-through engine 130 can disassociate the first telephone number fromthe second telephone number if the expiration event has occurred.

Stage 508 precludes association of the first telephone number withanother second number for at least a minimum time period if theexpiration event has occurred. For example, the call-through engine 130can preclude association of the first telephone number with anothersecond number for at least a minimum time period the second telephonenumber if the expiration event has occurred.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example process 600 for processing anexpiration event based on originations. The process 600 can, forexample, be implemented in the advertisement management system 104 ofFIG. 1, or in some other hardware and software computing device

Stage 602 disassociates the first telephone number with the secondtelephone number if a number of originating calls to the first telephonenumber is in excess of a threshold number of originations. For example,the call-through engine 130 can disassociate the first telephone numberwith the second telephone number if a number of originating calls to thefirst telephone number is in excess of a threshold number oforiginations. Alternatively, the method can merely disregard calls tothe first telephone number originating from a same telephone number hasexceeded the threshold.

Stage 604 associates the third telephone number with the secondtelephone number if the number of originating calls to the firsttelephone number is in excess of the threshold number of originations.For example, the call-through engine 130 can associate the thirdtelephone number with the second telephone number if the number oforiginating calls to the first telephone number is in excess of thethreshold number of originations.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an example process 700 for conditionallyrouting calls based on an account balance. The process 700 can, forexample, be implemented in the advertisement management system 104 ofFIG. 1, or in some other hardware and software computing device

Stage 702 determines an account balance associated with the secondtelephone number. For example, the call-through engine 130 can determinean account balance associated with the second telephone number.

Stage 704 determines a charge amount associated with the secondtelephone number, the charge amount based on, for example, thecost-per-call amounts. For example, the call-through engine 130 candetermine a charge amount associated with the second telephone number,the charge amount based on the cost-per-call amounts.

Stage 706 determines whether the charge amount exceeds the accountbalance. For example, the call-through engine 130 can determine whetherthe charge amount exceeds the account balance.

Stage 708 precludes routing the call from the first telephone number tothe second telephone number if the total amount exceeds the accountbalance. For example, the call-through engine 130 can preclude routingthe call from the first telephone number to the second telephone numberif the total amount exceeds the account balance.

While the advertisements described are directed to onlineadvertisements, the methods and systems can be used for advertisementsoutside of an online context. For example, the advertisements can beplaced on billboards, in magazines, books, video games, and can betracked in the same manner as described above. The advertisements canalso be audio advertisements such as advertisements on the radio. Forexample, a user can hear an advertisement on the radio and call atelephone number that is announced in the advertisement. The telephonenumber can be a unique number that is associated with the actualtelephone number of the advertiser. Therefore, the call to theadvertiser can be tracked since the unique telephone number was calledand then routed to the actual telephone number of the advertiser.

The call-through engine 130 can be realized by instructions that uponexecution cause one or more processing devices to carry out theprocesses and functions described above. Such instructions can, forexample, comprise interpreted instructions, such as script instructions,e.g., JavaScript or ECMAScript instructions, or executable code, orother instructions stored in a computer readable medium.

Implementations of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Embodiments ofthe subject matter described in this specification can be implemented asone or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules ofcomputer program instructions encoded on a tangible program carrier forexecution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.The tangible program carrier can be a propagated signal or a computerreadable medium. The propagated signal is an artificially generatedsignal, e.g., a machine generated electrical, optical, orelectromagnetic signal that is generated to encode information fortransmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by a computer.The computer readable medium can be a machine readable storage device, amachine readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition ofmatter effecting a machine readable propagated signal, or a combinationof one or more of them.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitsuitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does notnecessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can bestored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g.,one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a singlefile dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinatedfiles (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, orportions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed onone computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site ordistributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

Additionally, the logic flows and structure block diagrams described inthis patent document, which describe particular methods and/orcorresponding acts in support of steps and corresponding functions insupport of disclosed structural means, may also be utilized to implementcorresponding software structures and algorithms, and equivalentsthereof. The processes and logic flows described in this specificationcan be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one ormore computer programs to perform functions by operating on input dataand generating output.

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computerneed not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storingcomputer program instructions and data include all forms of non volatilememory, media and memory devices, including by way of examplesemiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks;magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD ROM disks. The processor andthe memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purposelogic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described is this specification, or any combination of one ormore such back end, middleware, or front end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), e.g., the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client server relationship to each other.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinvention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures that may be specific to particular embodiments of particularinventions. Certain features that are described in this specification inthe context of separate embodiments can also be implemented incombination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features thatare described in the context of a single embodiment can also beimplemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitablesubcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification have been described. Other embodiments are within thescope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in theclaims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirableresults. As one example, the processes depicted in the accompanyingfigures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, orsequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certainimplementations, multitasking and parallel processing may beadvantageous.

This written description sets forth the best mode of the invention andprovides examples to describe the invention and to enable a person ofordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. This writtendescription does not limit the invention to the precise terms set forth.Thus, while the invention has been described in detail with reference tothe examples set forth above, those of ordinary skill in the art mayeffect alterations, modifications and variations to the examples withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: associating a firsttelephone number with a second telephone number, the second telephonenumber being associated with an advertiser; receiving a call placed tothe first telephone number, the call being placed to the first telephonenumber responsive to the first telephone number being displayed on a webbased advertisement for the advertiser; routing the call to the secondtelephone number based on the association of the second telephone numberwith the first telephone number; determining that a call-through eventhas occurred if a calling number associated with an origination of thecall has not originated calls to the first telephone number in excess ofa threshold number of originations; and charging the advertiserassociated with the second telephone number a cost-per-call amount inresponse to determining that the call-through event has occurred.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising precluding the identification ofthe call-through event if the calling number has originated calls to thefirst telephone number in excess of the threshold number oforiginations.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningthat an expiration event has occurred; and disassociating the firsttelephone number with the second telephone number in response todetermining that the expiration event has occurred.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising precluding association of the firsttelephone number with another second number for at least a minimum timeperiod in response to determining that the expiration event hasoccurred.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the expiration event is apredetermined amount of time.
 6. A system, comprising: a data store thatstores a first telephone number and a second telephone number, thesecond telephone number being associated with an advertiser; one or moreprocessors configured to interact with the data store, the one or moreprocessors being further configured to perform operations comprising:associating a first telephone number with a second telephone number;receiving a call placed to the first telephone number, the call beingplaced to the first telephone number responsive to the first telephonenumber being displayed on a web based advertisement for the advertiser;routing the call to the second telephone number based on the associationof the second telephone number with the first telephone number;determining that a call-through event has occurred if a calling numberassociated with an origination of the call has not originated calls tothe first telephone number in excess of a threshold number oforiginations; and charging the advertiser associated with the secondtelephone number a cost-per-call amount in response to determining thatthe call-through event has occurred.
 7. The system of claim 6, whereinthe one or more processors are further configured to perform operationscomprising precluding the identification of the call-through event ifthe calling number has originated calls to the first telephone number inexcess of the threshold number of originations.
 8. The system of claim6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to performoperations comprising: determining that an expiration event hasoccurred; and disassociating the first telephone number with the secondtelephone number in response to determining that the expiration eventhas occurred.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to perform operations comprisingprecluding association of the first telephone number with another secondnumber for at least a minimum time period in response to determiningthat the expiration event has occurred.
 10. The system of claim 8,wherein the expiration event is a predetermined amount of time.
 11. Acomputer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the programcomprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatuscause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:associating a first telephone number with a second telephone number, thesecond telephone number being associated with an advertiser; receiving acall placed to the first telephone number, the call being placed to thefirst telephone number responsive to the first telephone number beingdisplayed on a web based advertisement for the advertiser; routing thecall to the second telephone number based on the association of thesecond telephone number with the first telephone number; determiningthat a call-through event has occurred if a calling number associatedwith an origination of the call has not originated calls to the firsttelephone number in excess of a threshold number of originations; andcharging the advertiser associated with the second telephone number acost-per-call amount in response to determining that the call-throughevent has occurred.
 12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:associating a first telephone number with a second telephone numberuntil an occurrence of an expiration event; determining whether theexpiration event has occurred; if the expiration event has occurred:disassociating the first telephone number from the second telephonenumber; and precluding association of the first telephone number withanother second number for at least a minimum time period; if theexpiration event has not occurred: routing a call from the firsttelephone number to the second telephone number; and charging anadvertiser associated with the second telephone number a cost-per-callamount.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: associating athird telephone number with the second telephone number until anoccurrence of another expiration event if the expiration event hasoccurred; receiving a call to the first telephone number; and announcingthe third telephone number in the call if the expiration event hasoccurred.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the expiration event is apredetermined period of time.
 15. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: identifying a calling number associated with an originationof the call; determining whether the calling number has originated callsto the first telephone number in excess of a threshold number oforiginations; and precluding routing the call from the first telephonenumber to the second telephone number if the calling number hasoriginated calls to the first telephone number in excess of thethreshold number of originations.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising presenting the second telephone number if the calling numberhas originated calls to the first telephone number in excess of thethreshold number of originations, the presenting comprising announcingthe second telephone number in the call to the first telephone number.17. A system, comprising: a data store that stores a first telephonenumber and a second telephone number; one or more processors configuredto interact with the data store, the one or more processors beingfurther configured to perform operations comprising: associating a firsttelephone number with a second telephone number until an occurrence ofan expiration event; determining whether the expiration event hasoccurred; if the expiration event has occurred: disassociating the firsttelephone number from the second telephone number; and precludingassociation of the first telephone number with another second number forat least a minimum time period; if the expiration event has notoccurred: routing a call from the first telephone number to the secondtelephone number; and charging an advertiser associated with the secondtelephone number a cost-per-call amount.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the one or more processors are further configured to performoperations comprising: associating a third telephone number with thesecond telephone number until an occurrence of another expiration eventif the expiration event has occurred; receiving a call to the firsttelephone number; and announcing the third telephone number in the callif the expiration event has occurred.
 19. The system of claim 17,wherein the expiration event is a predetermined period of time.
 20. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to perform operations comprising: identifying a callingnumber associated with an origination of the call; determining whetherthe calling number has originated calls to the first telephone number inexcess of a threshold number of originations; and precluding routing thecall from the first telephone number to the second telephone number ifthe calling number has originated calls to the first telephone number inexcess of the threshold number of originations.
 21. The system of claim17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to performoperations comprising presenting the second telephone number if thecalling number has originated calls to the first telephone number inexcess of the threshold number of originations, the presentingcomprising announcing the second telephone number in the call to thefirst telephone number.
 22. A computer storage medium encoded with acomputer program, the program comprising instructions that when executedby data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus toperform operations comprising: associating a first telephone number witha second telephone number until an occurrence of an expiration event;determining whether the expiration event has occurred; if the expirationevent has occurred: disassociating the first telephone number from thesecond telephone number; and precluding association of the firsttelephone number with another second number for at least a minimum timeperiod; if the expiration event has not occurred: routing a call fromthe first telephone number to the second telephone number; and chargingan advertiser associated with the second telephone number acost-per-call amount.